The Bland Family is thrilled to announce many exciting opportunities that our Lord and Savior is leading us to. God has given us a heart to fight exploitation, and we will continue to do so. He is sending us back to the United States in March to serve where we can be closer to our children, reach people at a deeper level with our native language, and have access to trusted medical care for some minor health issues that we want to keep minor. We have chosen Las Vegas as our new home so we can be the light of Jesus in Sin City. This new chapter in ministry allows us the opportunity to show the love of Christ to all as we work alongside food banks, churches & schools in providing food to children that have no food outside of school. This season of ministry will also allow us the chance to engage with families within the community as we teach cooking/nutrition classes, provide job readiness training and serve food. Las Vegas has a high rate of sex-trafficking; sadly, children struggling in poverty and food insecurity often turn to this as a potential solution! Assisting children and families in finding resources to move themselves from poverty into a position of being self-sustaining as they walk with Christ is an opportunity we have been praying about for many years.
The second phase of this ministry includes a mobile kitchen that will:
· Provide job training skills to folks in need as churches and businesses utilize Kitchen on the Street’s Catering for Cause program
· Will raise awareness on the issue of childhood hunger
· Will raise funds to combat that hunger
In the coming months we will share more about the mobile kitchen and our efforts to secure the funds to make this dream a reality as we fulfill our calling in Las Vegas.
Once again we are following a path that is different from the norm. :) We know that God has called us to serve Him full-time. We have also learned that when you give God control of your finances by living solely on support and allow Him to work through others, the result is a partnership with eternal results. It humbles us to our core while allowing our ministry partners to serve in the area where God called them.
Since moving to the Dominican Republic God has grown us in ways we never dreamed of. Our faith has deepened, our marriage has become even stronger, our children have grown in their faith and in their confidence, we have witnessed lives being saved both physically and spiritually, and most importantly we have grown to trust our Father in Heaven to always use us when we are willing. We know we could not have done this without your prayers, encouragement and support.
We want to invite you to continue praying for God to use us. We need your encouragement more than ever as we step away from the people we love and work with in the Dominican Republic. Our hearts will always be with them. We will continue to help the families that became part of our family. We know God sent us here to make this a lifelong connection.
While I was Nurse Jenny working in Le Roy, Il School District, I loved witnessing a local church putting together back packs with food for children on free and reduced lunches to help sustain them over the weekends. In Las Vegas there are 150,000 children in one school district on free and reduced lunches with only several thousand receiving back packs at this time. Those numbers are astonishing. We must turn hunger into hope.
We need your continued partnership! Please consider coming alongside us in one or more of the following ways:
· Pray-we need prayer above all else and believe it is the most important gift we can receive!
· Serve-plan a “missions” trip to Las Vegas; give of your time and talent alongside us in serving the hungry and hurting of our community.
· Give-continue to partner with us with your financially support.
· Advocate-we need you! Help us raise awareness on the issue of childhood hunger.
If you would like to partner with us on this new journey go to http://www.cmnetwork.org/donate/ and click the yellow DONATE button. Make sure you write Brian & Jenny Bland in the box where it says "Add special instructions" to let them know it is going to us.
If you are already a monthly supporter you do not have to make any changes.
One thing I love is making a video every 6 months or so to share with our hometown community. It gives me a chance to reflect back at the lives we help change and the miracles we witnessed. I cannot wait to see what our next video looks like!!!!! Our God is truly an AWESOME God!!!
Jenny and Brian Bland
Jenny and Brian Bland
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